Tuesday, March 22, 2011 (DT 26431)

Puzzle at a Glance

Daily Telegraph Puzzle Number DT 26431
Publication Date in The Daily Telegraph Thursday, December 23, 2010
Setter Shamus
Link to Full Review Big Dave's Crossword Blog [DT 26431]
Big Dave's Review Written By Big Dave
Big Dave's Rating
Difficulty - ★★★	Enjoyment - ★★★
Falcon's Performance ┌────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┬────┐ ███████████████████████████████████ └────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┴────┘ Legend: █ - solved without assistance █ - incorrect prior to use of puzzle solving tools █ - solved with assistance from puzzle solving tools █ - unsolved or incorrect prior to visiting Big Dave's blog

Introduction

I did fairly well on this puzzle, but did not understand the homophone at 16d until I read Gazza's comment at Big Dave's site.

Rubbish vs. Garbage

Some Briticisms are totally foreign to the North American ear, while others would be familiar to us from British television shows, movies or publications. Then there are words, like rubbish (in the sense of household waste), that would likely be easily understood by North Americans, but not commonly used.

Oxford Dictionaries Online defines rubbish, in this sense, as "noun chiefly British waste material; refuse or litter", what in North America would be called garbage ("noun chiefly North American rubbish or waste, especially domestic refuse").

The Brits would put their rubbish in a bin, which they might well call a dustbin (a receptacle for rubbish, rather than dust). On this side of the Atlantic, most of us would likely put our household waste in a garbage can, but if we lived in an apartment building (a block of flats to the Brits), we might put it in a garbage bin (a considerably larger receptacle). Of course, some of us put our organic kitchen waste in a compost bin.

The other meanings for rubbish seem to be used similarly on both sides of the Atlantic, namely "material that is considered unimportant or valueless" and "absurd, nonsensical, or worthless talk or ideas". In the former case, note that although considered worthless, it has not been discarded. The moment it is discarded, it would likely be considered garbage over here.

Today's Glossary

Selected abbreviations, people, places, words and expressions appearing in today's puzzle.

[Items marked with an asterisk are from a Cumulative Glossary of entries appearing, since the beginning of this year, in either this blog or its companion blog, the Ottawa Citizen Cryptic Crossword Forum.]

Appearing in Clues:

Meanings listed in this section may reflect how the word is used in the surface reading of the clue. Of course, that meaning may be contributing to the misdirection that the setter is attempting to create.

rating¹ - noun 2 British a non-commissioned sailor in the navy

Appearing in Solutions:

angel - noun 5 colloquial someone who works in the nursing profession

* DI - abbreviation [2^nd entry] (in the UK) Detective Inspector

Within the British police, inspector is the second supervisory rank. It is senior to that of sergeant, but junior to that of chief inspector. Plain-clothes detective inspectors are equal in rank to their uniformed counterparts, the prefix 'detective' identifying them as having been trained in criminal investigation and being part of or attached to their force's Criminal Investigation Department (CID).

get at - phrasal verb 3 British informal criticize (someone) subtly and repeatedly: I hope you didn't think I was getting at you

*mo - noun [in singular] informal, chiefly British a short period of time: hang on a mo!
 
removal - noun [usually as modifier] British the transfer of furniture and other contents when moving house: removal men

Presumably the North American equivalent would be moving, as in moving van. However, removal men would more likely be called movers, rather than moving men.

san - noun  informal term for sanatorium, an establishment for the medical treatment of people who are convalescing or have a chronic illness [or, in the U.S., sanitarium]

turn - noun 3 [2^nd entry] a short performance, especially one of a number given by different performers in succession: a comic turn

Commentary on Today's Puzzle

This commentary should be read in conjunction with the review at Big Dave's Crossword Blog, to which a link is provided in the table above.

16d   Trifling items carried on some cattle reportedly (7)

The definition is "trifling items", which happen to be BAUBLES. That part is easy enough. It is also evident that it is a homophone clue, with the indicator being "reportedly". But just what is the homophone? I briefly considered it might be BULL BALLS, but rejected that idea fairly quickly. While Big Dave's hint didn't provide enough information to clarify the matter, Gazza does explain the homophone in response to a comment. The homophone is BORE + BULLS.

For North Americans who pronounce bauble to rhyme (more or less) with gobble, this clue is complete mystery. One must know that the Brits pronounce bauble sort of like bawh-ble. You can listen to the American and British pronunciations at the aforementioned link. One also has to remember that the Brits use a soft R so that bore comes off sounding sort of like bawh. Again you can listen to the pronunciations at the link.

I have made my best effort to transcribe and explain the sounds, but undoubtedly I have not done a great job. The best thing is to listen to them for yourself. It is not surprising that this type of clue doesn't transport well across the Atlantic. Like this one, these homophone clues often only work within a certain region in Britain (there being dozens of regional dialects in the U.K.).

Signing off for today - Falcon